analysis Writing in ITNews, technology journalist Liz Tay compares the IT strategies of Australia’s major banks and supermarkets – she see parallels with a University of Melbourne paper that categorised CIOs as either “trusted senior executive leader” (Commonwealth Bank, Woolworths) or “chief technology mechanic” (Westpac, Coles). She quotes Forrester analyst Tim Sheedy, who comments:

“IT isn’t the be all and end all,” Sheedy said. “It can be a differentiator for those organisations that choose it to be a differentiator, like the Commonwealth Bank.”

According to Woolworth’s CIO they selected Google Apps because: “Simplicity and ease of use of the solution, the support for mobility, activity-based working and bring-your-own-device, security and the overall value proposition.” Interesting to note the use of the phrase, “activity-based working”, although its not entirely clear what that means in a retail environment or if this is a reference to office-based staff.

Woolworths also appear to have a come along way by embracing the cloud. My memories of interactions with Woolworths in the past was a company with very strict information security policies, so either an IT changing of the guard has taken place or they are confident that Google (and Yammer) can meet their standards. But the far bigger question, as Sheedy argues, can Woolworths actually use technology in this way as a differentiator?

Because of current market dynamics in Australia, where Coles and Woolworths dominate the supermarket sector (together, they hold 80% of the Australian market versus only 48% and 20% of the major chains in the UK and US respectively) this really is about the ability of both companies to out perform the other in some way.

The SMH reported recently that: “Coles has posted its fastest sales growth in two years as the resurrection of the once ailing supermarket group enters its fifth year and the retailer continues to strip away customers from rival Woolworths as well as other food stores.” However, Coles is fighting on price, not technology. So can Woolworths be the Commonwealth Bank of Australian supermarkets?

One notable case study from the same industry is SuperValue in the US, who last May talked about using Yammer as a tool to support the turn around of that business:

“SUPERVALU is focused on acting as one company, working toward a common goal of delivering increased value to all of our customers and meeting their needs store by store to become America’s Neighborhood Grocer. Internally, we are working to drive an open, transparent and agile culture, while continuing to bolster what makes us great – our associates, history and heritage.”

4 Comments

Woolworths is a retail store so most of their focus will be on improving the retail experience through staff training and improving stock management, IT only comes in for the self serve checkouts (at least on the consumer side) where people interact with Woolworths IT and personally I feel like woolies is better than coles in the UI side, but it seems like advertising is a bigger player than convenience

Rory – yes, its ultimately about the customer experience but IT impacts that experience in many ways. For example – supermarkets are engaging with customers online when they aren’t even inside the store, they are offering services that go beyond the product on the shelf, and are investing in loyalty programs – all using IT in some way and all in an attempt to gain extra customer wallet share (and keep it). So I think there is room to do much more. Even in respect to staff training, the right technologies can also improve its effectiveness.

James like the staff training angle. What has not been called out is the opportunity a corporate YouTube channel provides to showcase our stars in the pursuit of customer excellence, the methods of our best bakers, butchers and so on. It’s our view that the power of collaboration, implicit in the Google suite is something that can really help us differentiate.

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